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Grahams: Beinn Ghobhlach.
Sub 2k Marilyns: Cnoc a' Bhaid-rallaich.
Date: 24 and 25/04/2021.
Distance: 11km.
Ascent: 860m.
Time: 8 hours over 2 days
Weather: Warm and sunny. Hazy on second day. Still traces of freezing easterly wind at times.
After 3 consecutive weekends of gallivanting around the Highlands, we were going to rein things in a bit this weekend, and just go somewhere fairly local for a short walk. But a look at the weather forecast had us considering high camps instead. We could also do one of these locally, but we always end up looking to be somewhere out on the coast for the chance of a good sunset. So before we knew it, we were headed for Little Loch Broom and my umpteenth (well fourth) time up Beinn Ghobhlach. Jackie hadn't been up here but she had been looking at it for a while, and I didn't need much persuading -it's an obvious choice for a summit camp.
Some nice views along the way invited the odd stop, but before too long we were claiming the final parking space at Badrallach. Shortly after 2pm, we were on the move on the Scoraig path, and it was warm!
Glas Mheall Mor 
Beinn nam Ban 
Sail Mhor across Little Loch Broom 
On the Scoraig path A visit to Scoraig is definitely intended one day, but for now we followed the route I'd previously used up the side of a steep burn towards Loch Na h-Uidhe. Unfortunately for Jackie, I was incapable of carrying everything so she had to take a rucksack with her sleeping bag and mat in today. Not a massive weight, but one that she certainly noticed in the heat of the afternoon. We stopped just short of the loch for a breather and I topped up some of our water supplies (6 litres - don't want to miss out on that 3rd cup of tea
).
Looking towards An Teallach 
Loch na h-Uidhe 
Beinn Ghobhlach from Loch na h-Uidhe 
Clisham and the Harris hills across Rubha Mor 
An Teallach and Sail Mhor Then we crossed the outflow of the loch and headed for the west ridge. This is pretty steep and has some rocky bits - for once we decided to skip these (Jackie was knackered going up here) and we ended up to the right of the crest. After a short amount of soft ground lower down, the underfoot conditions were good, and we eventually ended up on the ridge a short distance below the summit. Despite some haze in the air, we could see a long way - the mountains of Harris and southern Lewis felt almost close enough to touch.
Jackie on the steep bit 
South towards Skye and Torridon 
On the summit ridge 
Scoraig peninsula I've never been up here in poor weather, but today was possibly the best yet. Annoyingly for our summit camp, that cold northerly breeze was still lurking - not massively strong, but certainly putting paid to any sunbathing plans! Anyway, it was only 5:30pm so we had plenty of time to ogle the views and enjoy endless cups of tea.
Ullapool and Loch Broom 
Summer Isles across the northern summits 
An Teallach and Fisherfield 
Not a bad camp spot 
An Teallach 
Fannaichs 
Out to Harris 
Ullapool ferry - stand-in for the Loch Seaforth 
Beinn Mhor Coigach 
Ullapool and Loch Achall 
Ferry approaching the Summer Isles 
DSC01288 
Rhue and Loch Kanaird 
Sun lowering over the Minch 
Sail Mhor 
An Teallach 
Ben More Assynt Eventually we had eaten dinner and it was time for sunset.
Low light over the Trotternish 
Harris and Lewis 
Summer Isles 
Gradually disappearing 
Last glimpse of sun 
After the sunset Then we retired to the tent for the night . The wind had swung around a bit, but thankfully it had now swung back to match the direction we had fixed the tent. We have a Scarp sitting in Jackie's flat waiting for the seams to be waterproofed - it would be a much better tent for summit camping than the MSR that we are currently using, which really isn't designed for wind. Still, it wasn't that bad this evening, so despite a bit of deforming, there was no way we were going to take off
.
By the following morning the wind had dropped to almost nothing, so we had a leisurely breakfast. Sunny again, but the haze had drawn in quite significantly, and Harris was a barely-visible smudge in the distance.
Breakfast view 
Little Loch Broom and Scoraig 
Not a bad morning 
Beinn Mhor Coigach 
Sail Mhor 
Beinn Mhor Coigach Before heading down, we wandered over to a couple of the northern summits to look down into Loch Broom. If Jackie had had more energy, we would have gone right out to the end of the ridge, but as it was, she decided to save what she had for the impending traverse of Cnoc a' Bhaid-rallaich.
Along the Scoraig peninsula from the northern summits of Beinn Ghobhlach 
Back to the main summit 
Northern summits We then dropped down to Loch a' Bhealaich, the slopes increasing as we got lower. We stopped at the beach for a rest and a quick paddle.
Loch a Bhealaich 
Beach at Loch a Bhealaich 
Time for a paddle 
Nice patterns Then it was onwards to Cnoc a' Bhaid-rallaich. We made a rising traverse of the northern slopes, and passed another person! He was a regular visitor to this area, and after discussing the numbers of cars we had seen at the foot of Ben Wyvis, the Fannaichs and An Teallach, we agreed that it was a good spot to avoid people!
Back to Beinn Ghobhlach Jackie was really struggling by the time we hit the summit ridge, so we had another long break there, with just the descent back to the car to go.
Beinn Dearg Bheag from Cnoc a Bhad-rallaich 
Little Loch Broom and An Teallach 
Dog rock I remembered the descent as a little rough but nothing to write home about, but the route we ended up taking took quite some effort! There are lots of rocky outcrops to dodge and the ground is steep, but until the final 100m, the vegetation is pretty reasonable.
Steep descent 
Kildonan and Beinn nam Ban 
Badrallach Lower down, there was a new fence which we tried to negotiate. We headed for a gate which turned out to go into the enclosure rather than helping us to the road. Panic averted - we spotted that there is actually a gap in the fence. We just had to traverse over rough heather a bit to get there. This completely finished Jackie off, meaning it would be me driving home.
We had one last stop at the Corrieshalloch gorge, which Jackie had never seen before. I haven't been here for some time either, and it is always a shock to see how deep it is.
Corrieshalloch Gorge One of the best of our recent trips
.
